confused over install

New Member

I know there are several install threads, but I am not the most techie minded and get confused easily so thought I would start my own thread to keep track.

Right I got win 7 upgrade student version, and new ssd to put it on, and installed it and works fine, but when I went to register it, it say my product key is for an upgrade not clean install, so does this mean I have to wipe the drive, install vista, then reinstall win 7??

Ok, so I might not be the smartest person around, but does it not seem like a warning should be put in somewhere to say although this will clean install from this disk, you need install vista first, but then why let it do a clean install in the first place on a new drive, if it's not going to register. I remember one of the other versions where you just had to put you old disk in at a set point to confirm, which seems a much better idea.

New Member

I know there are several install threads, but I am not the most techie minded and get confused easily so thought I would start my own thread to keep track.

Right I got win 7 upgrade student version, and new ssd to put it on, and installed it and works fine, but when I went to register it, it say my product key is for an upgrade not clean install, so does this mean I have to wipe the drive, install vista, then reinstall win 7??

Ok, so I might not be the smartest person around, but does it not seem like a warning should be put in somewhere to say although this will clean install from this disk, you need install vista first, but then why let it do a clean install in the first place on a new drive, if it's not going to register. I remember one of the other versions where you just had to put you old disk in at a set point to confirm, which seems a much better idea.

You need to have a valid previously installed copy of Windows XP or Windows Vista for the upgrade product key for Windows 7 to activate. So, to answer your question, yes -- you will need to install Windows Vista and then perform a "custom" install for Windows 7. This will still be a "clean install" but will just move the previous files over from Windows Vista.

New Member

Right I got win 7 upgrade student version, and new ssd to put it on, and installed it and works fine, but when I went to register it, it say my product key is for an upgrade not clean install, so does this mean I have to wipe the drive, install vista, then reinstall win 7??

There are some tweaks you can use that have been posted on several threads here as well as major websites. You have to modify your registry, run rearm and then reboot... all there really is to it. Sorry I didn't memorize the specifics.

BUT what are you doing with an SSD ??? Didn't you read any reviews? They are way way slower than SATA and so choppy and the failure rate.... well I would be trying to return it. Good luck with it though. Keep me informed.

New Member

I was pointed towards the registry fix, and it worked fine. As for the ssd I still have vista on my old velociraptor, and I found both good and bad reviews over the drives, so the only important thing on the whole drive is e-mails which are saved to a separate drive so if it fails I lose nothing. As for speed it is far quicker than the raptor so only time will tell.J Rick